Groupon has acquired last-minute hotel-booking app Blink, which is based in Spain and focused on the European market. The acquisition will help Groupon to further expand its travel business Groupon Gateways as the go-to destination for great travel deals.

Blink was founded in 2011, and raised $2.5 million in funding last year, which it used to expand operations. The app currently offers last-minute bookings for hotels in 184 cities across eight countries, according to its website. The app, which has been downloaded more than 600,000 times to date, may give Groupon more of a foothold in Europe.

“The combination of a fantastic mobile app, same-day inventory management for properties and a team that is obsessed with mobile and last-minute travel will help us further expand our travel business as the go-to destination for great deals on great places to stay," Aaron Cooper, senior vice-president of Groupon Getaways, said in a statement. The Blink app will continue to operate separately, but will be renamed "Blink by Groupon."

Groupon Getaways launched in mid-2011 in partnership with Expedia, and promotes a range of vacation deals in the U.S. and abroad.

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The security hole involves an authentication vulnerability in the firmware of several models of InnGate routers made by ANTlabs, a Singapore firm whose products are installed in hotels in the US, Europe and elsewhere.

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